There is obviously a joker working at the Original Company Ltd. Despite the company's name, all the CD players in its range echo the styling of more expensive players made by some of the world's most famous hi-fi manufacturers. The CD-A8T looks eerily similar to a model made in the US by Mark Levinson. The S version could almost have issued from Arcam's factory in Britain. Original's Leonardo 9.3 is nearly a dead-ringer for Denmark's legendary ZZ-Eight, from Bow Technologies.
Any similarities are only skin-deep. Inside the CD-A8T is a disc transport designed by Philips, but now manufactured by China's Cosmic Co, along with a VAM12 laser assembly and various chip-sets made in China by Burr-Brown and Philips. There are two Russian imports: a pair of Electro-Harmonix 12AU7 thermionic valves that, according to Original, "give a warm, beautiful and brave sound". These internal components don't represent the state of the art in electronics but they are very high quality, and the printed circuit boards into which they're inserted are built to exacting standards.
All the CD-A8T's digital circuitry is solid-state, using conventional transistors and diodes. It's the analog stages that are different.
There are two completely separate audio outputs. One is solid-state, using Burr-Brown ICs. The other uses the valves. Plug one of these outputs into the CD input of your amplifier and the other into the auxiliary input and use your amplifier's Source switch to alternate between the two to establish whether you prefer the warmer sound of the valves to the cleaner but distinctly colder sound of the ICs.
It's difficult to compare the two directly, because the voltage levels are different, and the valves invert the polarity of the audio signal, but we gradually came to prefer listening to the valve output. If you're interested in the sound quality of valves but don't want the hassle of owning a valve amplifier, Original's CD-A8T could be the perfect compromise
http://www.theage.com.au/news/reviews/original-cda8t-valve-cd-player/2007/04/14/1186857411773.html
